Well, first I would definately check your internet connection, but as you commented on my site, and you didn’t use someone elses computer (I’m presuming), then this is not the issue.

I would also check with another computer in the house (if there is one), or even a friend, to see if AOL’s network is down. This probably isn’t the case, as I am online at this time (on AIM) and AOL doesn’t usually just “go down”.

So that’s another possibility down the drain. Ok, so here’s what I would do first. Check another computer (if you have one) in your house. If so, it could be your router; if not, then you have narrowed it down to be the computer you are having problems with.

Now, depending, if it is just your computer, then it could be a virus or spyware. If this is the case, you should go download Ad-Aware and run a full system scan. Also, when the scan is complete, make sure you immediately restart the computer.

Another problem could be your anti-virus program. Are you using Avast! Anti-Virus by any chance. I have found that on some computers that are running Avast! Anti-Virus have had connection issues and have had to disable the Web Shield and have not been able to fix that, unless they have reinstalled Windows. By the way, if anyone has a fix to this, let me know.

Now, if all the computer’s in the house are having connection issues, it is more than just computer issues, it is now a network issue; and it is not just pointed directly to your computer. I would most likely point my finger at the one thing that keeps you all connected, your router. Depending on the router, you might need to lookup the manufacturer for Firmware Upgrades. There could be a known issue that has been fixed by upgrading the firmware of the router. Always make sure that you read the firmware changelog on the manufacturer website. Also, might I add, I stronly you check everything on your computer and such before just diving right into a firmware upgrade.

If you do decide to do a firmware upgrade, please backup all settings on your router. I have had experience with Belkin, D-Link, and Linksys routers.

Let me know what works for you, or have any questions. If you are unsure, don’t just do it, ask questions.

Good Luck!!

@ Jim: If other screennames work on your computer then that sounds like a bad password or and invalid screenname. As this may not sound typical, make sure that you are using the correct username and password. Try logging into the AIM network. Note that this isn’t the same as the AOL network.

GAIM is a great program. It is open-source application and is a widely community supported application for AIM, YAHOO!, MSN, and other protocols (some open source protocols, such as Jabber). Stick with it.

As stated before, if other screen names work, then this is probably a username/password problem, not a network (AIM) problem.

@Mel:
Try doing everything that I told Harrison to do. It could easily be a spyware/adware problem. It could also be a slow network.

It’s very hard to determine what the exact problem you are facing. I understand it can be a pain in the butt when it comes down to why is my screenname the only screenname that does not work?, and I understand your predicament.

Hang in there, and just follow the additional steps; let me know how it goes afterwards.

Hey, never know, you could figure out something I didn’t know; if so, share the knowledge.

@ENJ:
I am very glad it worked for you. Actually, the other day someone had the same problem. So I sent them here, to my website, just to see if they got the same reaction.

They did, ha. So, it worked for them too. Thanks for letting me know that it worked. Take care.

You’re welcome. Glad I could be of help. It’s always good to see some of my work come through.. heh.

Great! :) Always happy to help out. Thanks for all the great comments :)

Well, that doesn’t sound like an AIM problem. Well, it does, but not something that this change could have caused. As you stated, you just installed a Linksys router. You might want to look at some documentation on the AIM website about opening certain ports of your firewall for video conferencing or something of that nature.

About the audio issue, there are many different settings in AIM that allows you to have audio. Make sure you look at them all, there are in about three different places, can’t remember where off the top of my head.

Also, before messing around with this sound issue in AIM, I would make sure that your system audio is okay, as if it is a system-wide audio problem, your sound card could be dead or your audio drivers could be corrupt. What I am saying is, don’t waste your time trying to figure out some audio problems in AIM until you are for sure that AIM is the only thing not working at this time, could be all your programs (and your computer) audio could be not making any sounds.

Also, make sure your sounds is turned up on your speakers. Make sure your speakers are plugged in! :) Also, make sure that your sound device in Windows is not on mute or is not all the way turned down. There could be lots of things wrong, or it could as simple as turning something up, so again, please don’t blame it on AIM, especially if this “just happened out of nowhere”.

Best of luck to you.
Drew Decker

@Barry:
I am glad I was able to help you out. I know sometimes computers can do some weird things, and then other times it’s as easy as plugging something in. Haha.

Well you have a great night (at least it is here), and I’m glad your system back to normal.

Regards,
Drew Decker

I would try reinstalling AIM. Since this is actually not working on both of the computers, though, I suggest you might need to have a look at your firewall, even though 99% of the time this isn’t the issue, especially with AIM.

It could also be your ISP having problem. Other than that, I have had great luck using this (hence why I documented and have shared), and others that I know have used this has been extremely successful.

Hope you can get this resolved pretty soon!

So sorry for the delayed response!

That sounds like it could be a few things. That could be a networking problem, but then again, If you are able to use the internet normally from your computer (the one that cannot connect to AIM successfully), then that wouldn’t be the case.

Also, this could be a username and password issue. Are you signing in with your username password manually, or do you have an “auto-login” feature enabled, where it saves your username and password. If this is the case, it could just be the wrong password.

Try entering your username and password manually and see what this does.

Again, sorry for the lengthy delay, it won’t happen again.

Regards and Good Luck!!
Drew

Hello Fiter,

First off, I don’t have a Mac (even though I wish I did…), so I am very limited in helping you with this; my apologies.

If you are just wanting to put a different sound file in the “slaming shut door” (which I find quite annoying myself), then you would just replace that file name with a different file, that has the same name and extension. I don’t know how safe it would be to just rename a .wav file to a .ogg file. To be honest, changing a filename or extension manually does not edit the file at all, so you aren’t changing anything. So you would need to convert an audio file to what AIM uses, which I actually do not know either.

I now use Trillian, which I’m starting to drop. I think I will be moving completely over to Miranda IM. With that being said, I actually keep all my AIM, Trillian, etc sounds off, by default, as I don’t really care to be notified by sound that someone is IMing me.

That’s just me though. I want to help you resolve this issue, so let me know if I can help out anymore. Don’t be afraid to ask questions!

Have a great rest of the day,
Drew

Hello Fiter!

Thanks for your response. I’m not really familiar with AIM 4.7, that’s pretty old. Trillian is a good application, but you can’t connect to Google Talk unless your buy the Pro version (about $30). Miranda is an Open-Source application (IM Client) that allows you to customize very throughly, but is a bit “blah” when you first install it. I will tell you though, since you are using a Mac, you are very much in luck. There’s a software application out there called Adium. Download it from here.

Adium is only for Mac systems and it supports AIM (Including ICQ and .Mac), Jabber, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and others.

I think this is the best way to go. Gives you the features you want, and I believe you can change the sounds. I haven’t really messed around with it as I do not have a Mac to play around with. I wish I did.

Take care of yourself, and let me know how it goes with Adium (if you choose to go that route).

Regards,
Drew

Hey Fiter,

I’m very happy to hear that you have resolved your issue per my recommendation. Like I said, if I had a Mac, I would be using it myself.

About your security concern, anything on the Internet is vulnerable. That’s just something you have to accept. There are certain things that may help prevent you from being compromised, such as Anti-Virus, Firewall solution (some routers have built-in limited firewalls), software firewalls, secure passwords, etc.

In Adium, I believe (don’t quote me) it has some sort of automatic encryption. There’s a problem though, something that is a problem with all 3rd party public IM clients (AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN messenger/MSN Live Messenger, etc), is the fact that they do not encrypt your data automatically. Then there’s another problem you face, your conversation is not encrypted unless you both (you and the person you are conversing with) have encryption enabled. Think about it, if you have an encrypted message and you send them an instant message and they are not running any encryptions (private/public key), then they will not be able to read the message, therefore, that’s why having Automatic encryption would be your best bet. This way if they have encryption enabled, you can have an encrypted conversation, but if not, it sends in plain text allowing for you to converse.

Overall, I wouldn’t really be worried about IM security. I know security is a big think, especially in my book, but in this case nothing will really happen. Just don’t talk bad about the government and mention terrorist in the same sentence :P.

I know that starting the release of AIM 5.x there was a Security option in the preferences section (I know that they never came out with a 5.x Mac version), in which it allowed you to use a certificate to encrypt conversations, even though it only worked successfully if both people were encrypted, so most of the time, it sent in plain text, as most people didn’t know this and/or people didn’t want to have to manually set it up.

I hope this has answered a few of your question, and if you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Take care,
Drew

Of course I am! Why not? :P

Sorry that you are still having issues. This actually sounds like a program issue. Try reinstalling AIM. The newest AIM is AIM Triton, are you using it? I’ve heard some bad rumors about it, in which I do not know that are true, but I would stay away, just because. Either way, doesn’t matter which version you are running, try re-installing.

Trillian, sometimes is a pain. If using Trillian, try left-clicking the area by your buddy icon that says connected or Partially connected and click Global Disconnect and then do it again, only this time select Global Reconnect. Hope that helps.

As for GAIM, I don’t know. I’ve used it once or twice here and there on Linux, but really don’t have the desire for it, as it really has some limitations. If I had a Mac, I’d be using Adium.

Overall, make sure you are typing in your password correctly and make sure caps lock is not on. You know, sometimes it’s the smallest things.

Best of luck to you, and let me know what happens.

Regards,
Drew

@ Phil:
Hmm. I don’t know about this statement. What do you mean a virus within AOL? Also, what do you mean by door slamming? If you are talking about when someone signs in or out and the door slams, that’s a feature. If you are speaking of the issue another person had and wasn’t able to change the sound of the person signing out, then that too is not a virus.

Probably need to get your terminology correct. If you are having issues changing sounds in AIM, that could be a “bug”, if it’s suppose to be a feature and it is not working as it is stated. It could also just not even be a feature. But a virus .. ?

A virus is defined as “a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user.”

I don’t think anything is infected, and AOL wouldn’t bundle their software with “Viruses”.

Please elaborate on what issues you are currently having still and maybe I can help you, but as for a “Virus” in AOL, I don’t think so.

Regards,
Drew

Hmmm. That’s kinda weird. You sure you aren’t just having Operating System issues? You could possible have Adware or Spyware on your computer?

When downgrading from one version to the other, I am guessing your correctly uninstalled AIM 6.1, by using Add/Remove programs. I am also hoping that you did not just delete the files; this can cause issues.

AIM is an applications and Yahoo! Movies is a WebApp, they are unrelated. For your Yahoo! Movies issue, try clearing your browser’s cache.

For the AIM issue, I would try removing all versions of AIM on your computer via Add/Remove programs in Control Panel. I would then go download Ad-Ware from here. Install and update the definitions and run a full system scan. Once the scan has completed, remove anything it finds and restart the computer immediately. Once it comes back up, reinstall AIM 5.9.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,
Drew

Hello Busta,

So, you’ve tried reinstalling, running anti-virus and anti-spyware utilties, and no go? That’s a good start. However this sounds like a conflict with something. I do not know if its network latency/congestion at your end (if you have alot of computers and/or people are constantly downloading from the internet at one time).

One other thing you can check is your router’s firmware. You might want to check to see if your router’s fireware is up to date. If it is not, try flashing your firmware on your router. Go to your routers manufacturer page, check if there is new firmware upgrades, download it, and upgrade. One thing though, do not upgrade the router’s firmware via a wireless connection. To be safe, use a wired connection.

Let me know if you run into any other issues.

Regards,
Drew

Hello Cindy,

Well, first of all, let’s get rid of one of the AIMs. I will be honest with you, I would pick the AIM 5.9 over the new AIM Triton (6.x) client. The new AIM client is quite bloated.

Some of the AIM 5.9 files could have been over-written by AIM 6.x files, or they might share a few files, in which is causing the 5.9 version to be slow, as it might have to “redo” something, such as uncompress a certain library or whatnot, to be compatible with a 5.9 AIM version. I guess what I’m trying to say is AIM 6.x and AIM 5.9 might share a few DLLs that might have to alter its codebase based on what version; don’t know though.

So, get rid of one of the AIM clients. After the uninstall, reboot your computer. Then use the one you didn’t install. If it remains slow, try uninstalling that client and rebooting (again), and then reinstalling that version of AIM back on the system. If you need to grab AIM 5.9 again, which is not on the main AIM site I do not believe, you can download it from the Old-Versions website.

Let me know how it goes.

Regards,
Drew

@arj:
I would making sure the username and password are correct, even though you say they are. The other thing, you state, “Global Disconnect”; that is a Trillian thing, so that might not work. I have had connection issues with Trillian, and the Global Disconnect (and then a Global Reconnect), usually resolves the issue. I have a feeling that this is an issue with Trillian and not with the connection to the AIM Network. I have noticed, in the past few weeks, Trillian has released a few updates. You might want to see if there are any update for you and give them a go.

@Kelly:
Sorry to say this, but this really sounds like a password issue. You should be able to login to the AIM Screenname Service webpage and change, recreate your password for your account (after answering some security questions) by going here. This is what I would try first. However, the whole “I can sign onto AIM Express” thing, sounds kinda weird. Does it sign into AIM Express for you automatically? If so, then more than likely you aren’t typing the correct password into AIM, but AIM Express remembers your username and password due to cookies and the decision you made when it asked you if you wanted it to save (the web browser) the login credentials.

@Danielle:
Don’t take my word totally, but I believe that AIM 6 allows you to alter the size of the window text and style of other IMs, so what you send someone could be altered by another person (the person you are communicating with). They might have “zoom” on in their preferences and instead of the default “100%” setting, they might actually be seeing the text at 110% or 150%. I do not believe this really is an issue on your end.

@Dez:
This is impossible. When your computer hibernates, goes into stand-by, or is turned off, your network card turns off (unless you have a “wake-on-lan” feature turned on). Therefore, you cannot recieve any messages, and for that matter, you no applications are running and memory isn’t being utilized (in real time) at the moment. When you hibernate the system, your memory is utilized, but it’s just sitting there, but there is not processing that is being done at the current time with the memory or CPU. Strictly put, when you hibernate, standby, or turn your computer off, you are no longer connected to the internet. Leaving your computer on at all times should not actually be causing electric bills to rise much. I run about 4 computers and 1 server in my house and the electric bill is never over $80. However, that’s another story.

All of your guys, let me know if you have any other questions if you run into any issues or just need more help.

Regards,
Drew

can anyone tell me why when I sign into aim, once you connect, you will hear several doors slam sounds (about 8-10) like many buddies left; however, none of my buddies came off or on?

This might be your internet knocking you off and back on again.

I downloaded the 6.5 version and I can sign on AIM without any problems, but when I leave for a little bit, AIM signs me off automatically and then signs me right back on again? How do I fix that

I have seen this before. Check your networking and router. I’m pretty sure you have no issues with your cables, but you never know. I would start by logging into your home router and checking the firmware version of your router. Then go to the router’s homepage and check to see what the newest firmware version is out there, then upgrade. If you decide to upgrade your firmware, please do it over a wired connection, not a wireless connection. Which brings me to my next point.

If you are using wireless, check your wireless signal, you might keep losing your connection, or you might have a low signal causing high packet loss.

Make sure you backup all the setting on the router before doing the firmware flash, because you will lose all your settings when you upgrade the firmware (even your password).

Let me know,
Drew

every time i tri to logg on to my screen name it says “the domain name server lookupfor the specified host has failed. the host is unknown.”but it lets me brother sign on to his screen name fine on the same computer

This means that your computer is not getting a valid DNS hostname from either your router or your cable modem. You can try logging into your Router (if you have one) and see if it’s getting a valid DHCP DNS address from your ISP.

You state that another computer works fine, then that probably isn’t the cause (the router not getting a valid DHCP / DNS IPs). On the computer that will not connect, try going to the Start Menu, then going to Run…. Type in cmd and press enter. A black prompt should show. Type in ipconfig /release, wait a few seconds until that is done. Next run ipconfig /flushdns, wait for that to complete. Finally, when that completes, type in ipconfig /renew.

Hopefully that will fix your problem on that computer.

Let me know,
Drew

i cant sign in…something about a connection error. i tried to fx it but it wouldnt work….i dont kno what to do…

Would LOVE to help ya, however, you need to give more detailed errors and issues. What “connection” error are you recieving? Also, have you followed my above post (it’s amazing how many people read this post, comment without even following this article, and then complain that their AIM isn’t working).

If you can give me a better description on what your issue is and what version of AIM you are running, along with your Operating System type, I’d be more than willing to help you out in resolving your problem.

Thanks,
Drew

okie.it’s not a connection error…it’s a invalid AIM server address…&& i have AIM 6.5

Alright, you should be able to find some sort of server or host address under the connection settings. This covers AIM 5.x, so it might be different in AIM 6.x. If you can find the connection preferences, could you tell me what the server/host name is?

Regards,
Drew

i have aim 6.5 and my host is
https://my.screenname.aol.com/_cqr/login/login.psp
and my port is
443

how do you fix my problem if it it’s a invalid AIM server address??

Eve,

Try using this server address:

kdc.uas.aol.com

Do not include an https:// or an http:// at the front of it. Just copy and paste the URL that I gave you into your AIM client. Also, the port should be correct (443).

Regards,
Drew

*it was normally
kdc.uas.aol.com

Use this one. It should have never been changed.

My problem is similar but after I leave my computer on for more then an hour, it eventually goes into standby. When I go back on the computer my whole internet connection is lost. If I left aim on before I left my computer, it signed me out, and my web browser doesn’t work either. I usually have to restart my computer in order to get my connection back. Yet I know a lot of people who can leave their AIM on their computer on for days and they don’t have this problem. So i’m hoping there is a way to fix this error. It’s very annoying when I have to restart my computer constantly due to the loss of internet connection. I hope someone has a solution to this problem! Thanks =]

Christina,
You might have to edit your power options in the Control Panel. As for the problem with the internet working after going into standby and requiring a reboot, that is weird. I would have to say you should look into seeing if there is a new driver version for your network card.

In the Power Options in the Control Panel, there should be a drop down menu that lists different power schemes. Select the one that says Always On. That should resolve your issue.

hey whenever im on aim 6.0. it will not send me things that people have sent me. and then it will sign me off. i know it is gonna sign me of because when i go to look at peoples buddy info it say requesting info for a while. and then it says connection lost and signs me of but then back on. how do i fix this?

Sabrina,
I would do a few things. First off, make sure you don’t have a firewall that is blocking AIM - check for a software and hardware firewall. Also, this might be an issue with your router. You might need to upgrade the firmware on your home router. This doesn’t sound like something is wrong with AIM itself, but more of a network/firewall issue.

Regards,
Drew

I wanted to change my password so I went to “settings” and clicked “change my password” in the “sign in/sign out” section and NOTHING happened. It didn’t respond at all. So I tried clicking on the “Help” button and clicking on “About AIM” and everything else in the drop down and nothing responded. I tried over and over again to click on different things and anything that requires a link simply WILL NOT open. It doesn’t respond at all. I emailed AIM but haven’t heard anything. Can you please help me????? It is driving me crazy. Thank you.

Jenelle,

I’ve been away for a few weeks, so I apologize for the lack up updates.

So, it looks like you’ve done the basics (clearning cookies, rebooting, etc). You said something about it not responding at all. This is an application issue. You might want to check to see if there is an update available. Additionally, you want to check your system for any spyware or anything of that nature to make sure there isn’t anything keeping your system boggled down and not able to run normal tasks. The reason the password change isn’t working is because of the fact that the application (AIM) isn’t even responding to your requests. I would try reinstalling again (even though you have already done so). I would also try installing an earliery 6.x version if there is no update, just to check everything.

The fact that you emailed AIM (AOL), you will either get no response, or it will be awhile before you get a response - they usually aren’t of much help.

Let me know how it goes and we can continue to investigate.

Regards,
Drew